Gideon

Chapter 66

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UNBELIEVERS ARE INTOXICATED UNTO DEATH BY INGESTING FORBIDDEN FRUIT

06-16-13

(Dan 5:17-19) Then Daniel answered
and said before the king [Belshazzar], Let thy gifts be to
thyself, and give thy rewards[fees] to another; yet I will
read the writing[“divers kinds of tongues” 1 Cor 12:10; a
tongue of the Lord]unto the king, and make known to himthe
interpretation[“the interpretation of tongues” 1 Cor 12:10].
(Dan 5:18) O thou king, the most high God gave
Nebuchadnezzarthy[grand]fathera kingdom,
and majesty, and glory, and honour: (Dan 5:19) And for the
majesty[Heb: increase (of dignity): greatness]that he
gave him, all people, nations, and languages, trembled and feared
before him: whom he would he slew; and whom he would he kept alive;
and whom he would he set up [Heb: lifted up]; and whom he
would he put down [Heb: abased, humbled, subdued].

1.(1 Chr 29:25) And the LORD magnified Solomon exceedingly in
the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royalmajesty
as had not been on any king before him in Israel.

a.(1 Sam 16:13,14) Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and
anointed him[David] in the midst of his brethren: and the
spirit of the LORD came upon Davidfrom that day forward.
So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah. But the spirit of the LORD departed
from Saul [paralleling Nebuchadnezzar’s experience], and an
evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

2.(Psa 29:4) The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the
LORD is full of majesty.

3.(Psa 93:1) The LORD reigneth, he is clothed with majesty; the
LORD is clothed with strength, wherewith he hath girded himself: the world
also is stablished, that it cannot be moved.

4.(Dan 4:30,31) The king [Nebuchadnezzar] spake, and said, Is
not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the
kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my
majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice
from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken;
The kingdom is departed from thee.

a.(Psa 127:1) A Song of degrees for Solomon. Except the LORD
build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the
LORD keep[Heb: protect]the city, the watchman waketh but
in vain.

b.Commentary:
“my power… my majesty” = Nebuchadnezzar suffered from the gross error
of pride, a misunderstanding in thinking that he himself,
rather than God, was the center of the universe and thus the creator of
his own “majesty” from which he ruled (Dan 5:18,19). Nebuchadnezzar (the
clay) did not realize nor understand that he was merely an
instrument chosen to glorfy God (the potter), but thought himself to be
the principal. Nebuchadnezzar thought himself to be God,
attributing to himself the mighty works of God. Please note that the
stars (suns), although exceedingly awesome and powerful, are not the center
of the universe.

i.(Dan 12:3) Andthey thatbe wiseshall shine[Heb: to gleam; fig. to enlighten: teach, warn] as the brightness[Heb: brilliancy] of the firmament; and they that turn many to
righteousness (Mark 16:15) as the stars for ever and ever.

c.(Dan 4:37) Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour
the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways
judgment: and those that walk in pride[i.e., loving
themselves above loving God and loving our neighbors: Mat 22:36-40]
he is able to abase.

(Dan 5:20,21) But whenhis
heartwas lifted up, and his mind hardened [Heb: to
become mighty or (fig.) obstinate:--make firm, become strong] in
pride, he was deposed[Heb: to descend: carry, come down]
from his kingly throne, and they [who are “they”? God’s servants,
the angels]took his glory from him: And he was driven from
the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and
his dwelling was with thewildasses: they
[the angels]fed him with grass[Dan 4:15,23,25,32,33;
5:21 (6x)][i.e., “the milk of the word” 1 Pet 2:2]like oxen,and his body was wet with the dew[Dan
4:15,23,25,33, 5:21 (5x)] of heaven [the Holy Spirit];
till he knew[Heb: understood] [as the result of a 7 (symbol
of completion) year process]that the most high God ruled in
the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

1.harden = Dict: 1. to make hard of harder. 2. to make obdurate or
unyielding; make unfeeling or pitiless: to harden one’s heart.

2.Commentary:
“in pride” = signified by the tower of Babel situated within the city
of, as the heart of, Babylon; fig., a strong hold, a castle of stone
(hard-hearted): “And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower
[Heb: a tower (from its size or height); by anal. a rostrum [syn:
podium, stand]: castle, pulpit], whose top may reach unto
heaven;” (Gen 11:4).

3.(2 Cor 10:3-5) For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war
after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal[Gk: fleshly], but mighty through God tothe pulling down
[Gk: demolition; fig. extinction: destruction] of strong holds[Gk: (mean. to fortify, through the idea of holding safely); a castle
(fig. argument)];) Casting down imaginations, and every high
thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;

4.(Eccl 3:18) I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons
of men, that God might manifest[Heb: make apparent to]
them, and that they might see that they themselves are beasts.

(Dan 5:22,23) And thou his son, O
Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest
all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the Lord of
heaven; and they have brought the vessels [containers]
of his house[house of God, His temple] [an allusion to the children
of Israel who are filled with God’s word]before thee, and
thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine[partaken of the fruit]in them;and [in a complete
misinterpretation] thou hast praised the gods of silver, and
gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know
[earning for yourselves the reward of “ eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Exo
21:24; John 12:48)]: and the God in whose hand thy
breath is, and whose are all thy ways,hast thou not glorified:

1.Commentary:
“have drunk wine in them” = O Belshazzar, you and your people have
illegally drunk the fruit of my glory issuing forth from the
stolen vessels (by stealing my chosen children into captivity), glorious
fruit that to you and your unsaved people is “forbidden fruit,”
and thus intoxicating (poisonous) wine leading downward unto death,
but to my saved people, the fruit of my children is glorious praise
and worship leading upward unto life. Example: in a true big-picture
sense, we are still presently living within the parameters of the Old
Testament Law,which certainly must be esteemed as “fruit” from
God, but we have changed, twisted, and otherwise perverted that fruit
of God into government rule by coercion, intimidation, larceny, persecution,
and lying… unto death.

(Dan 5:24-28) Then wasthe part of
the hand sent from him [God]; and this writing was
written. And this is the writing[the tongue]that was
written,MENE [Heb: numbered], MENE [Heb:
numbered], TEKEL [Heb: balanced: to be weighed],
UPHARSIN [Heb: to split up: divide] [“divisions” Amplified Bible].
This is the interpretationof the thing: MENE; God hath
numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL; Thou art weighed in the
balances, and art found wanting. PERES; Thy kingdom is divided, and
given to the Medes and Persians.

(Dan 5:29-31) Then commanded Belshazzar, and they
clothed Daniel with scarlet[Dan 5:7,16,29][a type and shadow
of the saving blood of Jesus Christ], and put a chain of gold about
his neck[Dan 5:7,16,29][gold being a symbol of the purity of
God, this is literally a sign to all generations of Daniel’s direct
unbreakable and thus eternal communion with God and service to God], and
made a proclamation concerning him, that he should be the third
ruler in the kingdom[Dan 5:7,16,29]. In that night was
Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans [Babylonians]slain
[judgment rendered]. And Darius the Median[a deliverer]took the kingdom[initiating, in type and shadow, the Millennium],
being about threescore and two years old[62 years old, a very
interesting number in the book of Daniel, as we shall see].

1.Commentary: “the third ruler in the kingdom” = This
phrase, if prophecy, and it certainly seems to be, remains a personal
mystery; however, one possibility does occur. Perhaps God the Father is
first ruler, God the Son is second ruler, God the Man is (with
the full mind of Christ, shall be) third ruler, and the Holy Spirit
is the mover and shaker, the doer of it all. We must note that this phrase
also appears in the book of Daniel every timethe clear
prophecy of Daniel (a type and shadow of us) is mentioned clothed with
scarlet (salvation) and having a chain of gold about his neck (unbreakable
eternal communion and service to God), but what does it mean, and if
we were intended to learn its meaning only after our complete transformation
into the full mind of Christ, why is it at all mentioned three times now,
and each time in conjunction with two clearly fulfilling/fulfilled
prophecies? J

a.Ps. Commentary: However, after some few days of meditative
thought (grappling with the Angel of God), we conclude that perhaps this
phrase is a prophecy referring to our governing as “kings and priests” (Rev
1:6; 5:10 & Rev 20:6) during the Millennium “in the kingdom” on earth
under the descending hierarchy of Father God and His son Jesus Christ.